1. In the current role that I am in, the state of
Pennsylvania the Department of Education (PDE) and the Office of Child
Development an Early Learning (OCDEL) oversees our preschool program and lays
out the guidelines/requirements our program needs to follow. There are many
days I shake my head at the changing guidelines/requirements that come out of
PDE or OCDEL because I do not believe they are always child centered and many
times we do not receive an explanation as to why these changes are occurring. I
could see myself working at the state level in PDE or OCDEL because I have
visions for the future of Early Childhood Education and would like to have some
influence. My thought would be if I am working at the state level, I could
hopefully in some way try to influence what is being decided.
There are two jobs that are listed
on the PDE website that I could see myself in; Early Childhood Education
Advisor and Equal Education advisor. Unfortunately, those jobs are not currently
open so there was no job description available. I can imagine some requirements
would be:
- Master's degree from an
accredited institution of higher learning and extensive graduate level course
work in school administration
-Positive and proven record of
successful experience in a responsible administrative position
-Teaching experience in a
Pre-Kindergarten setting and/or elementary school
-Knowledge of principles and practices
of early child development
-Knowledge of basic child
development and psychology
-Ability to ready, interpret, apply
and explain rules, regulations, policies and procedures
Mission statement of OCDEL:
PDE site:
http://www.education.pa.gov/Early%20Learning/Pages/default.aspx#tab-
2. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is another organization that I would be interested in working for. I am currently a member of NAEYC and this past weekend attended a regional conference. As I said previously I have visions for the future of Early Childhood Education and would like to try to positively influence it outside of the classroom. NAEYC is at the foreground of policy and influence in ECE.
2. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is another organization that I would be interested in working for. I am currently a member of NAEYC and this past weekend attended a regional conference. As I said previously I have visions for the future of Early Childhood Education and would like to try to positively influence it outside of the classroom. NAEYC is at the foreground of policy and influence in ECE.
Currently there were only two job
opportunities listed and I could not find a general list of jobs so I do not know
what skills would be needed for any roles within NAEYC.
3. A local organization
that I have recently become more familiar with is United Cerebral Palsy. I
currently have a student that attends some of their programs and I am working
in collaboration with my local UCP Early Intervention Program. The UCP Early Intervention Program is much
like my Early Intervention Preschool Program. It works mainly with children and
families that have a child with a disability. UCP provides different therapies
to the child and family. One thing I was
impressed with while learning more about UCP is that they offer Family Support
Services and have a calendar of events on their website. I am a big supporter
of family involvement/engagement.
There were jobs listed however none that
specifically dealt with the Early Intervention Program. So again, I don’t know
what skills would be needed for roles within UCP.
http://www.ucpsouthcentral.org/index.html
http://www.ucpsouthcentral.org/index.html
